Operation Kutuzov

Operation Kutuzov was a major counteroffensive carried out by the Soviet Red Army under General Georgy Zhukov against the Axis forces in western Russia during World War II. On 12 July 1943, 1,286,000 Soviet troops launched an offensive against the northern and eastern faces of the Orel salient, facing the Second Panzer Army. The offensive achieved an advance of 10 miles in two days, and Army Group Center's commander Gunther von Kluge and Army Group South's commander Erich von Manstein both convinced Adolf Hitler to cancel "Operation Citadel", his offensive against the Kursk salient. By 23 July 1943, the Germans had been forced back to their positions before the Battle of Kursk, and the Red Army assaulted the Germans along the Mius Line and across the Donets below Izyum. Walther Model's German Ninth Army withdrew from the Orel salient, and it briefly sought shelter at the Hagen Line across the neck of the Orel salient. The counterattack had inflicted serious losses on the German army, and it allowed for several more counterattacks to be launched, leading to the recapture of Belgorod, Kharkov, and Smolensk.